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Separation Anxiety
Retrieved from http://www.scielosp.org!scielo.php?pid=
S0042-9686200100030001 l&scripts- ci_&xt&tIng=en
Gopnik, A., Meltsoff, A. N., & Kuhl, P. K. (2000). The scientist in the crib: What early learning tells us about the mind.
New York: Perennial.
Hain, T. C. (2001). Congenital deafness. Retrieved from hnp://
www.american-hearing.01gInameIconghearing.htd
Pick, A. D., &Gibson, E. 1.(2000). An ecological approach to
perceptual learning and development. New York: Oxford.
Soderquist, D. R. (2002). Sensory processes. Newbury Park,
C A Sage.
Stem, 1.-M. (2004). The cochlear implant-rejection of
culture, or aid to improve hearing? Rehieved from http://
www.deaftoday.comlnewslarchives/0M876.ht
SEPARATION ANXIETY
Separation anxiety-the emotional distress displayed
by infants and young children due to separation from
their attachment f i g u r ~ i one
s of the most important
and salient developmental events in childhood.
Separation anxiety begins to emerge in infants around
8 months of age, peaks for most infants around 13 to
15 months of age, and then begins to wane thereafter.
Interestingly, even blind infants show evidence of separation anxiety, indicating that they are capable of perceiving the sudden absence of their mother.
The origins of separation anxiety are thought
to derive from the adaptive evolutionary value that
such a response confers to the infant by keeping the
caregiver in close proximity. Cross-cultural data support the evolutionary origins of separation anxiety,
indicating that the onset and developmental progression of separation anxiety are similar in every culture
tested to date, including China, Japan, Guatemala,
and Israel.
Individual differences in the incidence and severity
of separation anxiety exist among infants, with some
infants demonstrating high levels of separation anxiety and others displaying little or no evidence of it.
Researchers have found in a U.S. sample, for example,
that only 42% of 11-month-olds and only 79% of
13-month-olds fretted and cried at the departure of their
mothers. Thus, even at the peak of separation anxiety-13 to 15 months of age--one of approximately
every five infants exhibits little sign of separation anxiety. Research indicates that differences between
infants showing varying degrees of separation anxiety
are attributable to infant temperament, the cultures in
which infants are raised, and the caregiving practices
to which they are exposed.
Developmentalists have uncovered several contextual factors influencing the incidence of separation anxiety among infants. For example, infants tend
to display less separation anxiety (a) when they are
left in the presence of another familiar caregiver such
as aparent, a babysitter, or a grandparent, @) when they
crawl or walk away from the caregiver rather than the
caregiver departing them, (c) when they are left with a
sibling or stranger compared to being left alone,
(d) when they are left with toys, (e) when they are
left behind with their paciiiers, and (0 when they can
hear and see their caregivers in an adjacent room.
These findings make it clear that the presence and
intensity of separation anxiety depends on the relations
between the infant, the caregiver, and the broader
social context.
Given the fact that the children's responses to separation are not due solely to themselves as discussed
above, what can caregivers do to reduce the frequency
and intensity of separation anxiety? Although verbal
gestures such as "bye-bye" are ineffective for l-yearolds, these types of gestures do appease older children.
In addition, caregivers can arrange the child's environment to maximize the likelihood that the child will not
he distressed upon separation. For example, caregivers
may place toys in the environment, leave the infant
with a pacifier, or have a familiar substitute caregiver
present during the departure. Finally, the caregiver of a
child older than about 2 years should avoid physical
contact with the child just before departure and explain
what the child could do when the parent is absent (e.g.,
play with toys or watch a cartoon).
Although separation anxiety diminishes for most
children and adolescents, approximately 4% to 5% of
infants develop separation anxiety disorder (SAD).
This disorder is distinguished by abnormal emotional
reactivity to real or imagined separation from attachment figures that disrupts activities of daily living.
Epidemiological studies indicate that the majority
of children and adolescents with SAD are raised by
families with low socioeconomic status and many
children with SAD refuse to go to school. Pharmacological, behavioral, and psychotherapeutic treatments for SAD have been shown to be effective.
-Matthew J. Hertenstein and
Margaret A. McCullough
See also Attachment
Sex Differences
Further Readings and References
Bowlby, J. (1980). Affachment and loss (Vol. 3). New York:
Basic Books.
Children's Hospital Medical Center of Alaon. (n.d.). Separation
anxiety. Retrieved from http://www.akronchildrens.org/
tipslpdfslBP1108.pdf
Durso, B. (2001). How do I get my child t o let me leave
him? Retrieved from bttp:ilwww.keepkidshealthy.com/
development/separation-anxiety.htm1
Field, T., Gewirtz, J. L., Cohen, D., Garcia, R., Greenberg, R.,
&Collins, K. (1984). Leave-takings and reunions of infants,
toddlers, preschoolers, and their parents. Child Development, 55, 628-635.
Weimaub, M., & Lewis, M. (1977). The determinants of
children's responses to separation. Monographs of the
Society for Research in Child Development, 42(Serial
No. 172). 1-127.
SEX DIFFERENCES
-
Are boys and girls really different? Are little boys
really, as Mother Goose says, made of snips and snails
and puppy dog tails? And are little girls made of sugar
and spice and everything nice? If the amount written
about the topic is any indication, then this question
is of prime interest. A search of the PsycInfo database
found 44,621 journal citations in English with the key
words sex difference from 1840 to April 2004.
Psychologists and others who study this topic
divide differences into three types: sex, gender, and
sex related Sex refers to classifications based on genetic
makeup, anatomy, and reproductive functions and are
biological diierences. As we shall see, there are very
few "pure" sex differences. The second type, gender,
refers to the expectations associated with being
female or male in social and cultural settings. These
are socially determined. The third type, sex-related
differences, implies that the behavior corresponds to
sex but it does not say anything about the cause or the
etiology of the difference. The majority of the differences between boys and girls and between women and
men fall within this definition.
PHYSICAL AND
HEALTH DIFFERENCES
Physical Characteristics
Some physical differences clearly are sex differences, whereas others are sex related. Males are heavier
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and longer at birth and have a greater lung capacity
and higher caloric intake. They are more vulnerable
to physical handicaps. Females are developmentally
older at birth, both in skeletal maturation and central
nervous system maturation. They mature faster than
males, and they live longer. The life expectancy for a
white female born in 2001 is 80.2 years, whereas
it is only 75 years for a white male. For a black female
born in 2001, life expectancy is 75.5 years and 68.6
for a black male.
Large differences in motor skills do not appear
until adolescence, when hormonal diierences lead
to large height and musculature changes in males.
Physical performance of motor skills increases with
age; however, there is no difference in the curve of
boys and girls until about 5 years of age. Then the
curve for girls is lower, but the increases are parallel
until adolescence. At adolescence boys show a sharp
increase, whereas girls level off or decline.
Puberty begins and ends for girls, on the average,
2 years before boys. There is a
deal of variation
within each sex in both the age at which puberty
begins and the length of time it takes for changes to be
completed. Although primarily a biological function,
menarche, or first menstruation, occurs earlier in girls
who are well nourished, who live in warmer climates,
or who have had sexual intercourse.
In terms of external changes, girls may experience
their growth spurt at 9 years whereas boys typically
begin their growth spurt after age 11. Most girls are at
adult height by 14 to 16 years, but most boys do not
stop growing until their late teens.
Men, on the average, are taller and stronger than
women. Women, on the other hand, have a higher proportion of body fat than do men.
Brain Size
Even after correcting for body size, men's brains
are larger than women's brains. The difference is about
200 cubic centimeters or two and a half golf balls.
Most of the difference is in white matter, which is
primarily nerve fibers and blood vessels. Women's
brains contain a larger proportion of gray matter than
do men's brains. Research using magnetic resonance
imaging technology indicates that men's corpus callosums, the large band of white matter that connects the
two hemispheres, is about 10% larger than women's.
Again, the excess is primarily white matter. The difference in volume is spread across all the lobes of the